What is creatine? A plain guide

Creatine is a compound your body makes and stores mostly in skeletal muscle, where it's part of the phosphocreatine system that helps regenerate ATP during short bursts of high-intensity effort. About half comes from food — mainly meat and fish — and the body makes the rest. Supplements almost always mean creatine monohydrate, the form nearly every clinical trial has tested, and it's the only ingredient in our tub: 5,000 mg per scoop.

What creatine actually is

Creatine is a small nitrogen-containing compound the liver, kidneys and pancreas make from three amino acids: arginine, glycine and methionine. Roughly 95% of the body's creatine sits in skeletal muscle, mostly as phosphocreatine, with small amounts in the brain and other tissues. Phosphocreatine acts as a fast-access phosphate reserve: during short, high-intensity effort — a heavy lift, a sprint — it donates a phosphate group to help regenerate ATP, the molecule muscle cells use for energy, faster than the body could otherwise manage. That mechanism is well established in exercise physiology; what it translates to for a given person, at a given dose, over a given training program is a separate question, and we cover the research on that directly in creatine benefits: what the research does and doesn't show.

Where it comes from: food and the body's own supply

People who eat meat and fish take in roughly 1-2 g of creatine a day from food, on top of what the body synthesizes on its own. Vegetarians and vegans skip that dietary source, and a narrative review on creatine beyond athletics notes they typically start with lower baseline muscle creatine stores than people who eat animal products, as does the average woman compared with the average man. None of that is a claim about what supplementing does for any of those groups specifically — it's just where the starting number tends to sit before anyone adds a supplement.

Creatine monohydrate: the form almost every trial has used

Creatine is sold in several chemical forms — monohydrate, hydrochloride, ethyl ester, buffered versions and others — but monohydrate is the one the research base is actually built on. The 2017 International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand describes short- and long-term supplementation with creatine, at doses reviewed up to 30 g/day for as long as 5 years in the literature it covers, as safe and well tolerated in healthy people and a range of patient populations; that conclusion is about the compound in general, built mostly on monohydrate trials, not about any specific brand's product or dose.

Electric Tiger Creatine Monohydrate is exactly that: creatine monohydrate, and nothing else in the tub. One scoop provides 5,000 mg (5 g), 50 servings a tub, as low as $20.62 a bottle on subscription. The label doesn't say "micronized," so we're not calling it that — see how to choose a good creatine for what that word does and doesn't mean on a label.

What the research has and hasn't established

Creatine is one of the more heavily studied supplements in sports nutrition, and the trial base covers strength, muscle mass, older adults and a few other areas in some depth — with real gaps and null results mixed in, not a uniform "yes." We don't make benefit claims about our own product for any of that; there's no dose-matched substantiation on file for this ingredient yet, so what follows is what the research on creatine generally has found, not what our label promises. The full breakdown, with citations and the trials' limits, is in creatine benefits: what the research does and doesn't show.

Questions people ask

What does creatine do?

It raises the muscle's phosphocreatine stores, which the body draws on to help regenerate ATP during short, high-intensity effort. What that means for strength, muscle or performance outcomes at a given dose is covered with citations in creatine benefits: what the research does and doesn't show.

Is creatine bad for you?

The 2017 ISSN position stand describes short- and long-term supplementation as safe and well tolerated in healthy people across the doses and durations it reviewed. That's not the same as "safe for everyone in every amount" — see creatine side effects and who should not take creatine for the specifics and the populations where caution applies.

Can creatine cause hair loss?

The claim traces back mostly to one small trial: 20 male rugby players who loaded on 25 g/day of creatine for a week, then took 5 g/day for two more, showed a rise in blood dihydrotestosterone (DHT), a hormone linked to hair loss in people already genetically susceptible to it. That trial never measured hair or scalp outcomes — only blood hormone levels — and no larger trial has followed up on the finding in the years since. That's a real, if thin, data point on a hormone marker, not evidence that creatine causes hair loss.

What is creatine made of?

The body makes it from three amino acids — arginine, glycine and methionine. The supplement version is manufactured, not extracted from meat, but it's chemically the same molecule. "Creatine monohydrate" means one water molecule is bound to each creatine molecule in its crystal form; that water is accounted for in the 5,000 mg per-serving weight on our label, the same way it is on any monohydrate label.

Is creatine natural?

Your body makes it, and it's present in meat and fish, so the compound itself occurs naturally. The supplement form is produced industrially rather than extracted from food, which is standard for essentially every creatine product on the market, ours included.

What's the difference between creatine and creatinine?

Creatinine is the waste product your muscles produce as they break down creatine, and it's what a standard blood or urine "kidney function" test actually measures — not creatine itself. Creatine supplementation can raise creatinine slightly because it raises the pool it's made from, which is a normal, expected shift, not necessarily a sign of reduced kidney function. See creatine side effects for more on what that means in practice.

What is the best time to take creatine?

When is the best time to take creatine? covers what the timing trials actually compared and found.

Which creatine should I buy?

How to choose a good creatine walks through the label checklist — form, dose, fillers, price per serving and testing — rather than naming a single winner.